CHAPTER XXIII.
ADRIFT ABOVE THE SNOWS.
"Whatever are they?" gasped Billy, as they ran for the aeroplane.
"Prehistoric monsters," rejoined the professor, who was almost out of breath.
The next minute he stumbled on a bit of basalt and fell headlong. Had it not been for this accident they could have gained the aeroplane in time, but, as it was, the brief space it took to aid the scientist to his feet gave the creatures of the cliff a chance to intercept the little party.
As the creatures drew themselves out of the green warm water of the lake with hideous snarls the boys saw that the animals were great creatures that must have weighed several hundred pounds each and were coated with shaggy hair. Their heads and bodies were shaped not unlike seals except that they had huge tusks; but each monster had two short legs in front and a pair of large flippers behind. Their appearance was sufficiently hideous to alarm the most callous venturer into the Antarctic.
"We've got to make the aeroplane," exclaimed Frank, "come on, get your guns out and fire when I give the word. If we can only kill a few of them perhaps the rest will take fright."
"A good idea," assented the professor producing his revolver, a weapon that might have proved fatal to a butterfly, but certainly would not be of any effect against the shaggy foes they now faced.
"Fire!" cried Frank, when the others had their heavy magazine weapons ready.
A volley of lead poured into the ranks of the monsters and several of them, with horribly human shrieks, fled wounded toward the lake. A strong sickening odor of musk filled the air as the creatures bled.
But far from alarming the rest of the monsters the attack seemed to render them ten times more savage than before. With roars of rage they advanced toward the boys, making wonderful speed on their legs and flippers.
"Let 'em have it again," shouted Frank as he noted with anxiety that the first fusillade had been a failure, the rough coats and thick hide of the monsters deflecting the bullets.
Once more the adventurers emptied their pistols, but the shaggy coats of the great creatures still seemed to prevent the bullets doing any serious injury.
The boys' position was ominous indeed. An order from Frank to reload resulted in the discovery that he alone of any of the party had a belt full of cartridges; the others had all used up the few they had carried.
"We're goners sure," gasped Billy as the creatures hesitated before another scattering discharge of bullets, but still advanced, despite the fact that this time two were killed. Suddenly, however, their leader with a strange cry threw his head upward and seemed to sniff at the air as if in apprehension.
At the same instant a slight trembling of the ground on which the adventurers stood was perceptible.
"It's an earthquake," cried Billy, recollecting his experience in
Nicaragua.
With wild cries the monsters all plunged into the lake. They seemed to be in terror. Behind them they left several of their wounded, the latter making pitiful efforts to reach the water.
"Whatever is going to happen?" cried Billy in dismay, at the animals' evident terror of some mysterious event that was about to transpire, and the now marked disturbance of the earth.
As he spoke, the earth shook violently once more and a rumbling sound like subterranean thunder filled the air.
"It's the mountain!" shouted the professor, who had been gazing about, "it's going to erupt."
From the crater they had explored there were now rolling up great masses of bright, yellow smoke in sharp contrast to the dark vapors that had hitherto poured from it. A mighty rumbling and roaring proceeded from its throat as the smoke poured out, and vivid, blue flames shot through the sulphurous smother from time to time.
"We've no time to lose," cried Frank, "come on, we must get to the aeroplane in a hurry."
They all took to their heels over the trembling ground, not stopping to gaze behind them. The monsters had all disappeared, and as they had not been seen to re-enter their holes they were assumed to be hiding at the bottom of the lake.
As the boys gained the aeroplane and clambered in, Frank uttered an exclamation:
"Where's the professor?"
In a few seconds they espied him carefully bending over the dead body of one of the slain monsters several yards away.
"Come on, professor," they shouted, "there's no time to lose."
"One second and I have him," the scientist called back.
At the same instant he made a dart at the dead creature's shaggy fur and appeared to grasp something. He hastily drew out a bottle and dropped whatever he had seized into it and then started leaping and bounding toward the aeroplane, his long legs looking like stilts as he advanced over the uneven ground.
He was just in time.
As the aeroplane left the ground the water in the lakes became violently agitated and steam arose from fissures in the mountain side. Flames shot up to a considerable height above the crater and a torrent of black lava began to flow toward the lakes, falling into them with a loud hissing sound that was audible to the boys, even after they had put many miles between themselves and the burning mountain.
"That will be the last of those monsters, I expect," remarked Harry as they flew steadily northward.
"I don't know," observed the professor, "they may have caves under water where they can keep cool. They evidently knew what to expect when they felt the first rumblings and shaking of the earth and must have had previous experience. I guess I was mistaken in thinking the volcano inactive."
"It was a piece of great good luck for us that the eruption came when it did," said Frank.
"It was a terrific one," commented Billy.
The professor laughed.
"Terrific," he echoed, "why, my boy, you ought to see a real eruption.
This was nothing. See, the smoke is already dying down. It is over."
"Well, it may not have been a big one, but you were in a mighty hurry to get to the aeroplane," said Billy with a grin.
"That was so that I could get my volcano monster's flea back safe and sound," exclaimed the man of science. "See here."
He took from his pocket and held up a small bottle.
"Look there," he exclaimed in triumph.
"Well," said the others, who, all but Frank, who was steering, were regarding the naturalist.
"Well," he repeated somewhat querulously, "don't you see it?"
"See what?" asked Billy, after a prolonged scrutiny of the bottle.
"Why, the flea, the little insect I caught in the shaggy fur of the volcano monster?"
"No," cried both boys simultaneously.
The professor gazed at the bottle in a puzzled way.
"Bless my soul, you are right," he exclaimed, angrily, "the little creature eluded me. Oh, dear, this is a bitter day for science. I was in such a hurry to pop my specimen into the bottle that I held him carelessly and he evidently hopped away. Oh, this is a terrible, an irreparable, loss."
Although the boys tried to comfort him they could not. He seemed overcome by grief.
"Cheer up," said Billy at length, "remember there is always the fur-bearing pollywog to be captured."
"Ah, yes," agreed the professor, "but a bug in the hand is worth two in the air."
As they talked, there suddenly came a loud explosion from the engine and two of the cylinders went out of commission. The speed of the aeroplane at once decreased and she began to drop.
The dismay of the boys may be imagined. They were several miles from the camp and below them was nothing but the desolate expanse of the snow wastes that lay at the foot of the barrier range.
"Shall we have to go down?" asked Billy.
"Nothing else to do," said Frank with a grave face, "there's something wrong with the engine and we can't repair it up here. If we were not in this rarified atmosphere we could fly on the cylinders that are firing all right, but this atmosphere would not support us."
"Do you think it is anything serious?" asked the professor.
"I can't tell yet," was the grave reply, "that explosion sounded like a back-fire and that may be all that's the matter. In such a case we can drain the crank case and put in fresh oil; for if it was really a back-fire it was most likely caused by 'flooding.'"
Ten minutes later they landed on the firm, hard snow and lost no time in getting things in shape to spend the night where they were; for it was unlikely that repairs could be effected in time for them to fly back to the camp before dark. The canvas curtains at the sides of the aeroplane's body were drawn up, forming a snug tent. The stove was set going and soup and canned meats and vegetables warmed and eaten by the light of a lantern.
In the meantime Frank had discovered that the breakdown had been caused by a defect in the ignition apparatus which it would take some time to repair. Both he and Harry went to work on it after supper, however, and by midnight they had it adjusted.
They were just preparing to turn in, the professor and Billy having wrapped themselves in their blankets some time before, when a sudden sound, breaking on the stillness of the Antarctic night, made them pause. Both boys strained their ears intently and the sound came once more.
This time there was no mistaking it.
It was the same sound to which Rastus had called Frank's attention the night they were on watch outside the hut.
Pulling the curtain open, the boys gazed out, determined to unravel the mystery once and for all. The night was perfectly still except for the buzzing noise, and a bright moon showed them the snow lying white and undisturbed about them.
The sound did not proceed from the ground, that was evident, but from the air. The atmosphere seemed filled with it.
"What can it be?" exclaimed Harry.
"Look—look there!" shouted Frank, at the same instant clutching his brother's arm in his excitement.
Both boys gazed upward and as they did so a dark, shadowy form passed above them far overhead. For an instant a brilliant light gleamed from it and then it vanished, going steadily eastward with the strange thrumming sound growing fainter as it receded.
The boys looked at each other in amazement and the words of Captain
Hazzard flashed across Frank's mind.
"WE HAVE SOME VERY UNDESIRABLE NEIGHBORS AT CLOSE QUARTERS," the captain had said. Undoubtedly he was right.
"What did you make it out for?" asked Harry at length.
"A dirigible and no small one," was the reply, "and you?"
"Same here. You can't mistake the sound of an airship's engine. The question is what is the explanation of it all?"
"Simple."
"Simple, well I—"
"That aeroplane is the one which was bought in Europe. It is specially provided with radiators which electrically heat its gas, allowing it to navigate in these regions without fear of the gas condensing and causing the ship to descend."
"Yes, but whose is it? What are they doing in it?"
"The first question is easy to answer. That ship is the ship of the rival expedition."
"The Japanese one, you mean?"
"That's it. It must have been the light of it that I saw during the winter. I suppose they were experimenting with it then."
"Experimenting—what for?"
"For the work they are using it on to-night."
"And that is?"
"To forestall us in the discovery of the Viking ship and the South
Pole."